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Hindu rashtra is against Constitution: judge

Mumbai: It is one thing to form a Hindu organisation and quite another to speak of forming a Hindu state, which is not in keeping with the Constitution, the special court set up under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act noted on Wednesday.

“Forming an organisation is fine, but wanting to create a Hindu ‘rajya’ [state] is against the Constitution. We are working under the Constitution,” judge Y.D. Shinde said during a hearing in the Malegaon blast case.

The judge’s remark came when counsel Shrikant Shivade, arguing the case of bail for an accused, Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, said there was nothing wrong with his vision of a Hindu ‘rashtra.’

“If I say, ‘remove the word secular and insert the word Hindu,’ there is nothing wrong in that,” counsel said.

The charge sheet reveals that the blast accused were led by the ideology of forming a Hindu ‘rashtra.’